On a day when Alastair Cook, the England opener, had the chance to make the most of his first County Championship start for nearly a year it was Alviro Petersen, the South Africa, who got useful batting time against his former county Glamorgan before he plays against England in July.

While Cook made only nine, Petersen made a composed 145 and put on 181 with Mark Pettini for the fifth wicket. In between that partnership Essex suffered collapses losing five wickets for the addition of only 13 runs before declaring. By doing that Glamorgan were forced to survive three overs at the end.